Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has reportedly agreed to face WBC/IBF/WBA middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin in a May 5 return bout at a location and venue still to be determined.
According to Eric Gomez, president of Alvarez’s promotional partner, Golden Boy Promotions, terms have been agreed to and that the three-division former world champ is fully on board with a rematch of last September’s controversial first go-round with the Kazakh KO artist.
Among the terms of the contract, Gomez told the Los Angeles Times, is an absence of a rematch clause.
“It’s going to be another great fight, so it’ll likely be a natural to do another rematch, but it’s not in the agreement,” Gomez told Lance Pugmire of the Times. “We want to concentrate on getting this [Alvarez-Golovkin rematch] done and then we can talk about a third fight later.”
The first bout between Alvarez and Golovkin resulted in a widely-panned draw, with the controversy being exasperated by a bizarre 118-110 card issued by judge Adalaide Byrd. Most observers, however, saw the fight as a close encounter, with Alvarez starting big and ending big, but losing the middle rounds to a more active, more aggressive Golovkin.
Although there was some buzz about the rematch possibly being hard to put together, representatives of Golden Boy insisted it would get done and, publicly, had never doubted their ability to get their fighter on board.
In their first bout, an odd rematch clause-- which granted Alvarez rights to an immediate rematch should he lose, but offered no such option to Golovkin-- made headlines and contributed to some bad public relations for the Mexican star. This time around, however, even the pretense of such a clause has been lifted.
Venue and location for the rematch have yet to be determined, but Gomez has stated that Las Vegas and New York are the frontrunners in hosting the rematch.
The bout is expected to be confirmed within a few days, after Golovkin’s side of the negotiations officially gives the green light to all discussed terms.